In vivo sensitivity reduction of Puccinia triticina races, causal agent of wheat leaf rust, to DMI and QoI fungicides

Experiments were carried out to determine in vivo the IC50 and the IC90 for demethylation-inhibitor fungicides (DMIs, triazoles) and quinone outside inhibitors (QoIs, strobilurins) to the five most frequent races of Puccinia triticina in 2007 growing season in Southern Brazil. The tests were done in a greenhouse with wheat seedlings. DMI fungicides were tested at the concentrations, in mg/L, 0.0; 0.02; 0.2; 2.0; 20.0; 100.0 and 200.0, and QoIs at the concentrations 0.0; 0.0001; 0.001; 0.01; 0.1; 1 and 10.0 mg of active ingredient/L water. Fungicides were preventively applied at 24 hours before the inoculation of seedlings with the fungal spores. The effect of treatments was assessed based on the number of uredia/cm². The lowest IC50 (inhibitory concentration) for DMI fungicides determined for MCG-MN, sensitive race, ranged from 0.33 to 0.91 mg/L, while the highest values for MDP-MR, MDT-MR, MDK-MR, MFH-HT races, varied from 9.63 to 85.64 mg/L (suspected insensitivity). QoI fungicide presented an IC50 varying from 0.0018 to 0.14 mg/L. The sensitivity reduction factor for DMIs varied from 8.8 to 238.8, and for QoIs from 0.3 to 1.5 mg/L. Sensitivity reduction was confirmed for the races MDP-MR, MDT-MR, MDK-MR, MFH-HT to DMIs, as well as their sensitivity to QoI fungicides.

Fungicide baseline for mycelial sensitivity of Exserohilum turcicum, causal agent of northern corn leaf blight

Northern corn leaf blight, caused by Exserohilum turcicum(Et), is one of the major corn diseases which can reduce grain yield and quality. The aim of this study was to determine the mycelial sensitivity of ten Etisolates, five from Argentina and five from Brazil, to six fungicides (carbendazim, captan, fludioxinil, metalaxyl, iprodione and thiram) used in seed treatment. The inhibitory concentration (IC50) was determined by using seven concentrations of the fungicides supplemented to the agar medium. The mycelial colony diameter was measured with a digital caliper. Experimental design was completely randomized with four replicates. Data on the percent mycelial growth inhibition were analyzed by logarithmic regression and the IC50 was calculated. The fungicide iprodione was the most potent, with IC50 < 0.01 mg/L, followed by fludioxonil, IC50 0.31 mg/L, and thiram, 1.37 mg/L. Carbendazim, metalaxyl and captan were classified as non-fungitoxic, showing IC50 > 50 mg/L for all isolates. Although iprodione is the most potent fungicide, it is not used for corn seed treatment. The IC50s obtained in this study can be used as baseline for future monitoring studies of Etsensitivity to fungicides.

Microencapsulation of pequi pulp by spray drying: use of modified starches as encapsulating agent

The aim of this study was to evaluate the microencapsulation of pequi pulp by spray drying. A central composite rotational design was used in order to evaluate the effect of the independent variables: inlet air temperature, surfactant concentration and modified starch concentration. The dependent variables were assumed as yield of the process and the product features microencapsulated. A selection of the best process condition was performed to obtain the best condition of a product with the highest vitamin C and carotenoids content. Powders showed moisture content below 2%. The experimental values of hygroscopicity, yield, water activity, total carotenoids and vitamin C powders ranged from 7.96 to 10.67 g of adsorbed water/100g of solids, 24.34 to 49.80%, 0.13 to 0.30, 145.78 to 292.11 mg of ascorbic acid/g of pequi solids and 15.51 to 123.42 mg of carotenoids/g of pequi solids, respectively. The inlet air temperature 140°C, the surfactant concentration of 2.5% and the modified starch concentration of 22.5% was recommended as the selected condition. By the scanning electron microscopy, it was observed that most of the particles had spherical shape and smooth surface.

Fraud detection in the banking sector : a multi-agent approach

Fraud is an increasing phenomenon as shown in many surveys carried out by leading international consulting companies in the last years. Despite the evolution of electronic payments and hacking techniques there is still a strong human component in fraud schemes. Conflict of interest in particular is the main contributing factor to the success of internal fraud. In such cases anomaly detection tools are not always the best instruments, since the fraud schemes are based on faking documents in a context dominated by lack of controls, and the perpetrators are those ones who should control possible irregularities. In the banking sector audit team experts can count only on their experience, whistle blowing and the reports sent by their inspectors. The Fraud Interactive Decision Expert System (FIDES), which is the core of this research, is a multi-agent system built to support auditors in evaluating suspicious behaviours and to speed up the evaluation process in order to detect or prevent fraud schemes. The system combines Think-map, Delphi method and Attack trees and it has been built around audit team experts and their needs. The output of FIDES is an attack tree, a tree-based diagram to ”systematically categorize the different ways in which a system can be attacked”. Once the attack tree is built, auditors can choose the path they perceive as more suitable and decide whether or not to start the investigation. The system is meant for use in the future to retrieve old cases in order to match them with new ones and find similarities. The retrieving features of the system will be useful to simplify the risk management phase, since similar countermeasures adopted for past cases might be useful for present ones. Even though FIDES has been built with the banking sector in mind, it can be applied in all those organisations, like insurance companies or public organizations, where anti-fraud activity is based on a central anti-fraud unit and a reporting system.

Fowl adenovirus Group I as a causal agent of inclusion body hepatitis/hydropericardium syndrome (IBH/HPS) outbreak in brazilian broiler flocks

Commercial broiler flocks from a farm located in the State of São Paulo, Brazil, presented diarrhea, depression, increased mortality and poor weight gain. Upon post-mortem examination, classical signs of Inclusion Body Hepatitis/Hydropericardium Syndrome (IBH/HPS) were observed, including enlarged pale yellow-colored livers and straw-colored liquid in the pericardial sac. In addition, gross lesions were also observed in the kidneys, pancreas, thymus, intestines and gallbladder. Samples of these organs were analyzed by PCR for the detection of the hexon gene of the Fowl Adenovirus (FAdVs) Group I. The results were positive for both flocks (A and B) assayed by PCR. The macroscopic lesions associated with the detection of FAdV Group I by PCR in several of these affected organs allowed for the identification of IBH/HPS. In fact, this is the first report in Brazil of IBH/HPS in broilers, which identifies FAdVs group I as a causal agent of the disease. These findings may contribute to the worldwide epidemiology of the adenovirus-mediated hepatitis/hydropericardium syndrome.

A simulation model of the optimal maintenance strategy: conceptual agent-based approach

In this Master’s thesis agent-based modeling has been used to analyze maintenance strategy related phenomena. The main research question that has been answered was: what does the agent-based model made for this study tell us about how different maintenance strategy decisions affect profitability of equipment owners and maintenance service providers? Thus, the main outcome of this study is an analysis of how profitability can be increased in industrial maintenance context. To answer that question, first, a literature review of maintenance strategy, agent-based modeling and maintenance modeling and optimization was conducted. This review provided the basis for making the agent-based model. Making the model followed a standard simulation modeling procedure. With the simulation results from the agent-based model the research question was answered. Specifically, the results of the modeling and this study are: (1) optimizing the point in which a machine is maintained increases profitability for the owner of the machine and also the maintainer with certain conditions; (2) time-based pricing of maintenance services leads to a zero-sum game between the parties; (3) value-based pricing of maintenance services leads to a win-win game between the parties, if the owners of the machines share a substantial amount of their value to the maintainers; and (4) error in machine condition measurement is a critical parameter to optimizing maintenance strategy, and there is real systemic value in having more accurate machine condition measurement systems.

Pasteurella multocida type A as the primary agent of pneumonia and septicaemia in pigs

Abstract: In order to understand better the pathological aspects and spread of Pasteurella multocida type A as the primary cause of pneumonia in pigs, was made an experiment with intranasal inoculation of different concentrations of inocula [Group (G1): 108 Colony Forming Units (CFU)/ml; G2: 107 CFU/ml; G3: 106 CFU/ml and G4: 105 CFU/ml], using two pigs per group. The pigs were obtained from a high health status herd. Pigs were monitored clinically for 4 days and subsequently necropsied. All pigs had clinical signs and lesions associated with respiratory disease. Dyspnoea and hyperthermia were the main clinical signs observed. Suppurative cranioventral bronchopneumonia, in some cases associated with necrosuppurative pleuropneumonia, fibrinous pericarditis and pleuritic, were the most frequent types of lesion found. The disease evolved with septicaemia, characterized by septic infarctions in the liver and spleen, with the detection of P. multocida type A. In this study, P. multocida type A strain #11246 was the primary agent of fibrinous pleuritis and suppurative cranioventral bronchopneumonia, pericarditis and septicaemia in the pigs. All concentrations of inoculum used (105-108 CFU/ml) were able to produce clinical and pathological changes of pneumonia, pleuritis, pericarditis and septicemia in challenged animals.

Production of a bioherbicide agent in liquid and solid medium and in a biphasic cultivation system

The use of fungi in weeds control programs depends upon the conidia production in large scale. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate liquid and solid culture media and the cultivation by biphasic system for the conidia production of Bipolaris euphorbiae Muchovej & Carvalho a specific pathogen of Euphorbia heterophylla. The liquid media were obtained from agro-industrial waste or by-products, and the solid media were prepared with mixtures of grains and grain derivatives. The liquid medium made with sugar cane molasses stood out from the others because it provided great sporulation (23 x 10(4) conidia mL-1 of medium), conidial viability (99.7%), and formation of mycelial fungal biomass (1.26 g 100 mL-1 of medium). On solid media conidial production was markedly higher than in liquid media, especially the medium composed by a blend of sorghum grain (40%) and soybean hulls (60%) where the fungus produced 2.3 x 10(7) conidia g-1 of medium. The cultivation of B. euphorbiae in biphasic system not promoted a significant increase in the production of conidia. The solid media were more effective for the mass production of fungus and mixtures of grains and derivatives were effective for increasing conidia production.

Use of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) as a biological control agent for submerged aquatic macrophytes

This study aimed to evaluate feed preference and control efficacy of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) on the aquatic macrophytes Ceratophyllum demersum, Egeria densa and Egeria najas. An experiment was carried out at mesocosms conditions with 2,000 liters capacity and water residence time of 2.8 days. C. demersum, E. densa e E. najas biomasses were offered individually with sixty g and coupled in similar quantities of 30 g of each species, evaluated during 81 days, envolving 6 treatments. (1 - C. demersum, 2 - E. najas, 3 -E. densa, 4 - C. demersum + E. najas, 5 - C. demersum + E. densa and 6 - E. najas + E. densa). When offered individually, E. najas and C. demersum presented the same predation rate by grass carp, which was higher than E. densa predation rate. When plants were tested in pairs, the order of feed preference was C. demersum > E. najas > E. densa. E. najas and C. demersum percentage control ranged from 73 to 83%. No relation between biomass consumption and grass carp body weight gain was observed, probably due to differences in nutritional quality among macrophyte species according to fish necessities. Therefore, it is concluded that the use of grass carp is one excellent technique to control submersed macrophytes in Brazil.

Use of a cysteine proteinase from Carica candamarcensis as a protective agent during DNA extraction

We describe the use of a plant cysteine proteinase isolated from latex of Carica candamarcensis as a protective agent during isolation of bacterial DNA following growth in culture of these cells. Between 100 to 720 units of proteinase (1 µg = 6 units) afforded good DNA protection when incubated with various kinds of microorganisms. Agarose gel electrophoresis showed that the resulting DNA was similar in size to DNA preparations obtained by treatment with proteinase K. The viability of the resulting material was checked by PCR amplification using species-specific primers. After standing at room temperature (25oC) for 35 days, the enzyme lost 10% of its initial activity. The enzyme stability and good yield of DNA suggest the use of this proteinase as an alternative to proteinase K.

Anxiolytic effect of methylene blue microinjected into the dorsal periaqueductal gray matter

The dorsal periaqueductal gray (DPAG) has been implicated in the behavioral and autonomic expression of defensive reactions. Several results suggest that, along with GABA, glutamate and serotonin, nitric oxide (NO) may play a role in defense reactions mediated by this region. To further investigate this possibility we microinjected methylene blue (MB; 10, 30 or 100 nmol/0.5 µl) into the DPAG of rats submitted to the elevated plus-maze test, an animal model of anxiety. MB has been used as an inhibitor of soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) to demonstrate cGMP-mediated processes, and there is evidence that NO may exert its biological effects by binding to the heme part of guanylate cyclase, causing an increase in cGMP levels. The results showed that MB (30 nmol) significantly increased the percent of time spent in the open arms (saline = 11.57 ± 1.54, MB = 18.5 ± 2.45, P<0.05) and tended to do the same with the percentage of open arm entries (saline = 25.8 ± 1.97, MB = 33.77 ± 3.07, P<0.10), but did not change the number of enclosed arm entries. The dose-response curve, however, had an inverted U shape. These results indicate that MB, within a limited dose range, has anxiolytic properties when microinjected into the DPAG.

Compound 48/80, a histamine-depleting agent, blocks the protective effect of morphine against electroconvulsive shock in mice

We have shown that morphine has an anticonvulsive effect against maximal electroconvulsive shock (MES) in mice, and this effect is antagonized by histamine H1-receptor antagonists. Brain histamine is localized both in neurons and in mast cells, and morphine is known to enhance the turnover of neuronal histamine and to release histamine from mast cells. In the present experiments, compound 48/80 was injected chronically (0.5 mg/kg on day 1, 1 mg/kg on day 2, 2 mg/kg on day 3, 3 mg/kg on day 4, and 4 mg/kg on day 5, twice daily, ip) to deplete mast cell contents. Morphine (0.001-10 mg/kg, ip; N = 20) produced a dose-dependent anticonvulsive effect against MES seizure in mice with non-depleted mast cells, whereas it did not exert any anticonvulsive effect in mice with depleted mast cells. These results indicate that morphine produces its anticonvulsive effect against maximal electroconvulsive shock in mice by liberating histamine from mast cells.

Amifostine (WR-2721), a cytoprotective agent during high-dose cyclophosphamide treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas: a phase II study

Clinical trials indicate that amifostine may confer protection on various normal tissues without attenuating anti-tumor response. When administered prior to chemotherapy or radiotherapy, it may provide a broad spectrum of cytoprotection including against alkylating drugs. The mechanism of protection resides in the metabolism at normal tissue site by membrane-bound alkaline phosphatase. Toxicity of this drug is moderate with hypotension, nausea and vomiting, and hypocalcemia being observed. We report a phase II study using amifostine as a protective drug against high-dose cyclophosphamide (HDCY) (7 g/m2), used to mobilize peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPC) and to reduce tumor burden. We enrolled 29 patients, 22 (75.9%) affected by aggressive and 7 (24.1%) by indolent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), who were submitted to 58 infusions of amifostine and compared them with a historical group (33 patients) affected by aggressive NHL and treated with VACOP-B followed by HDCY. The most important results in favor of amifostine were the reduction of intensity of cardiac, pulmonary and hepatic toxicity, and a significant reduction of frequency and severity of mucositis (P = 0.04). None of the 29 patients died in the protected group, while in the historical group 2/33 patients died because of cardiac or pulmonary toxicity and 2 patients stopped therapy due to toxicity. Amifostine did not prevent the aplastic phase following HDCY. PBPC collection and hematological recovery were adequate in both groups. The number of CFU-GM (colony-forming units-granulocyte/macrophage) colonies and mononuclear cells in the apheresis products was significantly higher in the amifostine group (P = 0.02 and 0.01, respectively). Side effects were mild and easily controlled. We conclude that amifostine protection should be useful in HDCY to protect normal tissues, with acceptable side effects.